Less Discussed Star Powers

[Oddish]

Yeah, I wonder about the Vissians sometimes. If they’re “gone” for whatever reason, or if they’re (exponential growth of technology over time and all that) on another level by the 24th Century like the Metrons or whomever and don’t like to get involved in the going’s on of “younger races” (i.e. the Dominion War)

I always thought that the Vissians were second-wave Federation members. They weren't 2155 coalition-members with the Big Four, like the Orions and Denobulans were. But soon enough, news go around of this peaceful alliance of worlds, and more worlds expressed interest in joining. No reason to think the Vissians wouldn't have been among them.

And who knows? Perhaps, in time, their new associates were able to gently guide their society toward treating all three of its sexes more equitably.

 

[Arpy]

I always thought that the Vissians were second-wave Federation members. They weren't 2155 coalition-members with the Big Four, like the Orions and Denobulans were. But soon enough, news go around of this peaceful alliance of worlds, and more worlds expressed interest in joining. No reason to think the Vissians wouldn't have been among them.

And who knows? Perhaps, in time, their new associates were able to gently guide their society toward treating all three of its sexes more equitably.

I forget why I thought the Vissians were too advanced to be in the Federation, but yeah that’d be cool too. I felt so bad for the cogenitor in that episode though. Really tragic. I even included her(?) in this collage I did some time back of some of the lesser known aliens in Trek.

Also, for my fellow non-humanoid lovers here, I made this study for another collage that at I never got to, too.

 

[Annorax849]

I always thought that the Vissians were second-wave Federation members. They weren't 2155 coalition-members with the Big Four, like the Orions and Denobulans were. But soon enough, news go around of this peaceful alliance of worlds, and more worlds expressed interest in joining. No reason to think the Vissians wouldn't have been among them.

And who knows? Perhaps, in time, their new associates were able to gently guide their society toward treating all three of its sexes more equitably.

I like to think their membership request was actually rejected by the UFP until they started treating the Co-Genitors better. Then again they allowed Stratos in so who knows.

 

[Orphalesion]

I think there was a line in a TOS movie where Kirk says something about “whatever fleet we end up in” or something like that. (Maybe when they steal the Enterprise and he thought they’d be kicked out of Starfleet.) I wondered what he meant by that. If they’re out of Starfleet, surely he couldn’t mean the Klingon or Romulan fleets could he…maybe he did, jokingly, as it was meant to be a funny line…but could it have meant another fleet(s) out there of yet other powers they could maybe choose to join? Whether the Nyberrite or some other…again, the teasing of a fuller universe than we are privy to.

Could very well be possible, it was until the last season of DS9 until we met the Breen, who are apparently a pretty powerful species. So who knows what else might be out there.

 

[trekshark]

The Gorn. Enterprise could have just made their Gorn a big rubber head man in a suit but no let's make him a CGI dinosaur creature. There's just something wonderfully ridiculous about this 60s lizard man and his insect eyes and I wish we'd seen them in the background of DS9 or Kelvin or something.

Especially since ds9 mentioned cestus 3. They should have mentioned the gorn too

 

[NCC-73515]

I'm pretty sure there was a Gorn on Rura Penthe in the ST'09 deleted scenes along with a Salt Vampire.

 

[Orphalesion]

The Gorn. Enterprise could have just made their Gorn a big rubber head man in a suit but no let's make him a CGI dinosaur creature. There's just something wonderfully ridiculous about this 60s lizard man and his insect eyes and I wish we'd seen them in the background of DS9 or Kelvin or something.

I mean we did see a Gorn wedding ceremony recently...

 

[publiusr]

I would like to learn more about the Sheliak Corporate.

TNG’s Hutts by the look of things.

The Jarada interest me. I think they know the Conspiracy bugs too

The Nyberrite Alliance might be all that is left of Star Fleet Battles ISC…TNG’s French Foreign Legion of sorts these days?

Outskirts of the galaxy….out of everyone’s way…frontier country not far from the spinward galactic barrier. The distance appealed to Worf…much like how people want to go to Alaska to get away from the hustle and bustle…that’s my guess. An ex-pat deal.

 

[Arpy]

TNG’s Hutts by the look of things.

The Jarada interest me. I think they know the Conspiracy bugs too

Sheliak are scarier.

 

[Orphalesion]

The Sheliak are in this really strange position too where, for all we know a good part of their empire could overlap with Federation Space (and probably does, considering that treaty), since they inhabit a different type of planet than the Class M preferred by a lot of Federation species.
Could even see a situation where a Federation colony (or even the homeworld of a member species) exist in the same star system as a Class H world inhabited by the Sheliak.

TNG’s Hutts by the look of things.

I dunno, the Sheliak really didn't like dealing with Humanoids, so I doubt they have criminal syndicates where they employ Klingon henchmen and make Orion girls dance for them.

 

[Imaus]

The Sheliaks are anti-carbon life xenophobes.

They fought a war with the Federation around 2250-2260, and really should had been villians for DIS or SNW.

 

[Arpy]

The Sheliak are in this really strange position too where, for all we know a good part of their empire could overlap with Federation Space (and probably does, considering that treaty), since they inhabit a different type of planet than the Class M preferred by a lot of Federation species.
Could even see a situation where a Federation colony (or even the homeworld of a member species) exist in the same star system as a Class H world inhabited by the Sheliak.

Hmmm I’m not sure if that’s the case. Maybe most Federation members prefer Class M planets, but surely not all of them. They’re not going to give up all those other ones to foreign powers that either some of their people want or they themselves could colonize via domed or underground structures or after terraforming. I think it was just a border world, not one deeper in Federation territory with Class M’s nearby.

I dunno, the Sheliak really didn't like dealing with Humanoids, so I doubt they have criminal syndicates where they employ Klingon henchmen and make Orion girls dance for them.

…with Ferengi lieutenants and Tellarite guards and creepy Tholians silently roaming the grounds with their eight legs.

 

[Orphalesion]

Hmmm I’m not sure if that’s the case. Maybe most Federation members prefer Class M planets, but surely not all of them. They’re not going to give up all those other ones to foreign powers that either some of their people want or they themselves could colonize via domed or underground structures or after terraforming. I think it was just a border world, not one deeper in Federation territory with Class M’s nearby.

Oh most likely. Though I wasn't talking about a complete overlap, just a regional one, in some corner of the Federation.
Though you gotta admit, a "parallel empire" like that would be quite interesting, with two populations hardly interacting due to their difference in planet habitation and all.

 

[Arpy]

Oh most likely. Though I wasn't talking about a complete overlap, just a regional one, in some corner of the Federation.
Though you gotta admit, a "parallel empire" like that would be quite interesting, with two populations hardly interacting due to their difference in planet habitation and all.

Yeah, definitely some intriguing possibilities there.

You know maybe in other ways too. This is the distant future we’re talking about, maybe technological and social sophistication permits for more layers of overlapping systems. Not exactly sure how, but like what if there were overlapping societies inhabiting the same place — the same streets? You’re under Ferengi jurisdiction and use latinum, I’m under Federation and go moniless. You process the world through Google Glass and I use my iVISOR. Both governments have police forces there, planetary defense is subcontracted to the Talarians. Just spitballing…

 

[publiusr]

Sounds good…with the title “corporate” they sound like more a more soulless version of the Ferengi. Everything is purely transactional. No passion. The Ferengi love commerce like Klingons love battling. The Sheliak are just bulldozers.

Though the armus suit was used…I get an Excalbian vibe from them.

 

[Orphalesion]

Yeah, definitely some intriguing possibilities there.

You know maybe in other ways too. This is the distant future we’re talking about, maybe technological and social sophistication permits for more layers of overlapping systems. Not exactly sure how, but like what if there were overlapping societies inhabiting the same place — the same streets? You’re under Ferengi jurisdiction and use latinum, I’m under Federation and go moniless. You process the world through Google Glass and I use my iVISOR. Both governments have police forces there, planetary defense is subcontracted to the Talarians. Just spitballing…

Didn't we have a little bit of that on Deep Space 9, with the Starfleeters living mostly moniless (though probably with a living allowance) and the other parties on the Station(the Bajorans, Quark, Garak, that Klingon restaurateur) using Latium.
I could see many stations along the Federation Border like that, and maybe places like Freecloud or joint-ventures between Empires to, for example, exploit the rare resources on an asteroid belt that lies on the borders of two Empires. Or more successful version of that Nimbus III, planets owned at the same time by two or more Empires. Or two inhabited planet sin a system (or even a twin planet system) one owned by the Federation, one by the Ferengi Alliance. Under the leadership of Magus Rom I could actually see the Ferengi and the Federation undertaking a number of joint ventures.

Or if we go more exotic again...an Aquatic empire that holds sovereignty over the oceans on a specific planet, while the Federation has the right to colonize the dry land.

 

[Imaus]

Yeah, definitely some intriguing possibilities there.

You know maybe in other ways too. This is the distant future we’re talking about, maybe technological and social sophistication permits for more layers of overlapping systems. Not exactly sure how, but like what if there were overlapping societies inhabiting the same place — the same streets? You’re under Ferengi jurisdiction and use latinum, I’m under Federation and go moniless. You process the world through Google Glass and I use my iVISOR. Both governments have police forces there, planetary defense is subcontracted to the Talarians. Just spitballing…

This is a sort of panarchy and/or condominium I believe.

The nature of space means that polities are probably a lot more swiss cheese than we're used to. Few maps can show this well, but if say, there's a AI race that loves to live on Red Dwarfs, there's a Carbon race that loves Class-M worlds, there's a nomadic fleet-species, all three can end up in the same few LY and have vastly different laws, ontology, and ways of operating.

The Federation says a world has to be unified before it can apply, and maybe would push for control of an entire system as a single unit, but the reality would be far more messy.

What happens if Mars wants to go its own way, right in the middle of the Federation? What happens if two species are in one system and one of them doesn't want to be part of the Federation? The Klingons and Romulans can also just go above, or below, or even through Federation space, there's no real way to have a proper border beyond a lot of sensor nets and escorts/destroyers to intercept them or escort them through, or the threat that if they go into this space, hostile action will occur up to war.

 

[publiusr]

You can even have two seasons where things are different…Helliconia IIRC

 

[Orphalesion]

The nature of space means that polities are probably a lot more swiss cheese than we're used to. Few maps can show this well, but if say, there's a AI race that loves to live on Red Dwarfs, there's a Carbon race that loves Class-M worlds, there's a nomadic fleet-species, all three can end up in the same few LY and have vastly different laws, ontology, and ways of operating.
(...)
The Klingons and Romulans can also just go above, or below, or even through Federation space, there's no real way to have a proper border beyond a lot of sensor nets and escorts/destroyers to intercept them or escort them through, or the threat that if they go into this space, hostile action will occur up to war.

This is of course true, which is why all the various maps of the Star Trek Galaxy are somewhat problematic. A more realistic version would be a 3D map with probably a lot of coloured bubbles denoting the various systems owned by the Empires. The "Neutral Zone" is probably some sort of "bubble" around Romulan Space.

The Federation says a world has to be unified before it can apply, and maybe would push for control of an entire system as a single unit, but the reality would be far more messy.

You have a point. If i may speculate I think a Planet needs to be unified to become a member of the Federation, but I think if there's a system with two planets and one wants to join while the other refuses, then the Federation would allow the one to join and the other to stay independent. They'd likely work out some sort of deal/shared ownership of the system that would preserve the rights of the independent planet.

 

[at Quark's]

The Sheliak are in this really strange position too where, for all we know a good part of their empire could overlap with Federation Space (and probably does, considering that treaty), since they inhabit a different type of planet than the Class M preferred by a lot of Federation species.
Could even see a situation where a Federation colony (or even the homeworld of a member species) exist in the same star system as a Class H world inhabited by the Sheliak.

Even so, in that scenario there probably would still be planets they'd both be interested in. Planets that are not inhabitable but happen to have rich deposits of rare resources, for example. Or strategically situated solar systems they'd both like to have in their entirety as a base.